Embracing Grace Over Grievances Among Believers
1 Corinthians 6:7
Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Just how valuable are your friendships with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Are they more important to you than money? I certainly hope so. Here, we get a close look at a situation in the church of Corinth where Christians are suing each other in court, rather than settling things gracefully. May it not be so among us! We are asked a tough question, one which I’m not sure how many would be ready to answer; “Why do ye not rather take wrong?” The religious side of man says, “You’ve worked too hard for yourself to just let it go without demanding restoration!” The carnal man says, “I’m not taking that from anybody!” The flesh seems to “live for the fight,” if you will. However, the question flies in the face of all natural thinking, again by asking, “Why do ye not rather take wrong?” In other words, some things are not worth fighting over. Furthermore, some things are not worth breaking fellowship over!
Allow me to point out the fact that we do not have to be literally going to court against each other in order to be going “to the law one with another”. Let me explain; when you are “offended” by the behavior or actions of a brother or sister in Christ, and you resort to laying down the law in a spirit of condemnation, quoting all the Bible verses that prove to them that they are wrong, and you do so without a spirit of meekness and grace, with no intent to restore, then you also have gone “to the law one with another”. It is the spirit of the law that kills our fellowships today! That judgmental, pharisaical, holier-than-thou, nose-up-in-the-air, I’m better than you, you’re going to Hell if you don’t get right, kind of attitude that saps all the life out of what formerly was known as church. This kind of arrogance is the kind of religious piety that Christ often rebuked in His earthly ministry. Our text says it well when it emphasizes the fact that “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you…”
Question: Are you more interested in instigating a riot, or initiating restoration? Pray with me that God will revive the church in such a way that we begin again to walk in wisdom, grace, and forgiveness.
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
Just how valuable are your friendships with your brothers and sisters in Christ? Are they more important to you than money? I certainly hope so. Here, we get a close look at a situation in the church of Corinth where Christians are suing each other in court, rather than settling things gracefully. May it not be so among us! We are asked a tough question, one which I’m not sure how many would be ready to answer; “Why do ye not rather take wrong?” The religious side of man says, “You’ve worked too hard for yourself to just let it go without demanding restoration!” The carnal man says, “I’m not taking that from anybody!” The flesh seems to “live for the fight,” if you will. However, the question flies in the face of all natural thinking, again by asking, “Why do ye not rather take wrong?” In other words, some things are not worth fighting over. Furthermore, some things are not worth breaking fellowship over!
Allow me to point out the fact that we do not have to be literally going to court against each other in order to be going “to the law one with another”. Let me explain; when you are “offended” by the behavior or actions of a brother or sister in Christ, and you resort to laying down the law in a spirit of condemnation, quoting all the Bible verses that prove to them that they are wrong, and you do so without a spirit of meekness and grace, with no intent to restore, then you also have gone “to the law one with another”. It is the spirit of the law that kills our fellowships today! That judgmental, pharisaical, holier-than-thou, nose-up-in-the-air, I’m better than you, you’re going to Hell if you don’t get right, kind of attitude that saps all the life out of what formerly was known as church. This kind of arrogance is the kind of religious piety that Christ often rebuked in His earthly ministry. Our text says it well when it emphasizes the fact that “Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you…”
Question: Are you more interested in instigating a riot, or initiating restoration? Pray with me that God will revive the church in such a way that we begin again to walk in wisdom, grace, and forgiveness.
~ Pastor Gary Caudill